Communications industry’s credit union ESCCU deploys e-banking

E-Services and Communications Credit Union, the credit union for Ireland’s communications industry for more than 50 years and which has €170m under management, has deployed a virtualised infrastructure and data-recovery system to underpin its investment in e-banking services.

Trilogy Technologies designed the IT architecture to support all applications at the bank and it is hosted within an Eircom data centre, accessible via a leased line.

Trilogy implemented a VMware leased line technology to virtualise all the credit union’s data.

This reduced dependence on server hardware and had knock-on benefits in terms of reduced power consumption.

Trilogy also integrated a business continuity system into ESCCU’s data network using Veeam technology.

The new system provides the infrastructure to allow real-time replication for the credit union’s email, online banking and applications by mirroring them to a hit site location.

Flexibility is the key to survival

“This solution is running securely and stably under demanding conditions,” Fergus Casey, ESCCU manager, explained. “We can offer services similar to banks and do a lot more business with our members, as well as attracting new members. The Credit Unions’ reputation has survived the downturn because we can provide these services to the everyday user.”

The next phase for ESCCU is to look at core business applications so they can improve and deliver new services to clients.

“Accessibility, reliability and availability of information is paramount to success in business,” said Fergus.

“We can now move forward with confidence knowing that we have a solid IT infrastructure in place that is future-proof and can scale for growth,” he said.